Logopraxis

The good of love is the practice of the Word, of truth

Arcana Coelestia 7068. And they bent themselves and bowed themselves down. That this signifies humiliation, is evident from the signification of “bending themselves and bowing themselves down,” as being the effect of humiliation (see n. 2153, 6266); but that “bending themselves” denotes exterior humiliation, and is that of those who are in truth; and that “bowing themselves down” denotes interior humiliation, and is that of those who are in good, may be seen above (n. 5682). That this is so, has often been made plain from those who are in truth and those who are in good; they who are in truth are as it were rigid, and stand erect as if they were hard; and when they ought to humble themselves before the Divine, they only bend the body a little; but those who are in good are as it were soft, and when they humble themselves before the Divine, they bow themselves down to the earth. For truth without good is quite rigid, and when it looks to good as the end, this rigidity begins to soften; but good is in itself soft, and the truth which is being instilled, as it becomes good there, also grows soft. The reason is that truth cannot be ordered in the heavenly form except by good; hence it is in itself hard; for the heavenly form is most free and makes no resistance; and from this the good with which truth has been rightly ordered is like it; and as above said is soft.

Conjugal Love 56… Our host then said, “Let us now join together in some discourse on wisdom. Let the discourse be concerning causes, and for the present concerning the cause of the beauty of the female sex.” They then spoke in turn. [4] A fourth gave this: “The Lord has taken the beauty and grace of life from man(TRUTH/OUR UNDERSTANDING OF) and transcribed them into woman(THE GOOD OF PRACTICE). Hence, without reunion with his beauty and grace in woman(THE GOOD OF PRACTICE), a man(TRUTH) is stern, austere, dry, and unlovely; nor is he wise save for himself alone, and then he is stupid. But when man(TRUTH) is united with his beauty and grace of life in his wife(GOOD OF PRACTICE), he becomes agreeable, pleasant, animated, and lovely, and thus wise.” A fifth gave this: “Women(THE GOOD OF PRACTICE) are created beauties for the sake not of themselves but of men(TRUTH), that men(TRUTH), of themselves hard, may be softened; that their minds, of themselves severe, may become mild, and their hearts, of themselves cold, warm; and they do become such when they become one flesh with their wives.”

And Jehovah said unto Aaron, Go to meet Moses, into the wilderness. And he went and met him in the mountain of God, and kissed him. And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah, wherewith He had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. And Moses went, and Aaron, and gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel; and Aaron spoke all the words which Jehovah had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people. And the people believed; and they heard that Jehovah had visited the sons of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, and they bent themselves, and bowed themselves down.

Exodus 4: Verses 27-31.

And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said unto Pharaoh, Thus said Jehovah the God of Israel, Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, whose voice I should hear, to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, and also I will not let Israel go. And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us; let us go, we pray, a way of three days into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God; lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, draw away the people from their works? Go ye unto your burdens.

Exodus 5:1-4

Arcana Coelestia 7088. And afterward Moses and Aaron came,” signifies the Divine law and doctrine thence derived; “and said unto Pharaoh,” signifies exhortation thence to those who are against the truths of the church; “Thus said Jehovah the God of Israel,” signifies that it was from the Divine Human of the Lord; “Let My people go,” signifies that they should desist from infesting them; “that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness,” signifies that from a glad mind they may worship the Lord in the obscurity of faith in which they are; “and Pharaoh said,” signifies contrary thought; “who is Jehovah, whose voice I should hear?” signifies concerning the Lord, to whose exhortation they should hearken; “to let Israel go,” signifies that they should desist; “I know not Jehovah,” signifies that they care not for the Lord; “and also I will not let Israel go,” signifies that neither will they desist from infesting; “and they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us,” signifies that the God Himself of the church has commanded; “let us go we pray a way of three days into the wilderness,” signifies that they must be in a state quite removed from falsities, although in the obscurity of faith; “and let us sacrifice to Jehovah our God,” signifies that they may worship the Lord; “lest He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword,” signifies to avoid damnation of evil and falsity; “and the king of Egypt said unto them,” signifies the answer from those who are in falsities; “wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, draw away the people from their works?” signifies that their Divine law and doctrine will not release them from sufferings; “go ye unto your burdens,” signifies that they must live in combats.

7080. THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY. In what precedes it has been told what the neighbor is: it is now to be told what the charity or love is which there must be toward the neighbor.

7082. There are two things in the natural world which make the life there, namely, heat and light; and there are two things in the spiritual world which make the life there, namely, love and faith. Heat in the natural world corresponds to love in the spiritual world, and light in the natural world corresponds to faith in the spiritual world. Hence it is that when spiritual heat or fire is mentioned, love is meant; and when spiritual light is mentioned, faith is meant. Moreover, love is actually the vital heat of man, for it is known that man grows warm from love; and faith is actually the light of man, for it can be known that man is illumined from faith.

Truth as the neighbour

AC 5595 Spiritual good is truth made into good; for truth is made into good when a person leads a life in keeping with that truth. When he does this, truth passes into his will and from there into action and becomes part of his life; and when truth becomes part of his life it is no longer called truth but good. But the will which transforms truth into good is the new will formed in the understanding part of his mind; and that good is called spiritual good. Spiritual good differs from celestial good in that celestial good is implanted in the will part of a person’s mind. But this matter has been dealt with quite a number of times before.

AC 10296 with the spiritual all the will has been destroyed, but the understanding is preserved entire by the Lord, and in it there is implanted by the Lord a new will by means of regeneration. This will is the conscience with them, which is a conscience of truth. For whatever is implanted in the understanding and proceeds from the understanding, is truth, because man’s understanding has been allotted to the reception of the truths of faith; but the will to the reception of the goods of love. From this it is evident that in its essence spiritual good is truth.

Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner life along with reinforcing any key LP principles that have been highlighted in the exchanges.

Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, “Why are you striking your companion?”

Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.

But Moses fled from b]">]the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

Exodus 2:11-15

Apocalypse Revealed 455. For their tails were like unto serpents having heads, and with them they hurt, signifies the reason, because they are sensual and inverted, speaking truths with their lips, but falsifying them by the principle which constitutes the head of the doctrine of their religion, and thus they deceive. The like is here signified as above by the locusts, (438-439); but it is there said, that they had “tails like scorpions,” whereas here, like “serpents,” for they who are described by the locusts, speak and persuade from the Word, the sciences, and from erudition; but these only from arguments which are appearances of truth and fallacies; and they who use such arguments ingeniously, and as it were wisely, do indeed deceive, but not in so great a degree.

[2] By “serpent” in the Word, are signified sensual things, which are the ultimates of man’s life, as above, (424); the reason is, because all animals signify the affections of man, wherefore also the affections of angels and spirits, in the spiritual world, appear at a distance as animals, and affections merely sensual, as “serpents;” and this because serpents creep on the ground and lick the dust, and sensual things are the lowest of the understanding and will, being in close contact with the world, and nourished by its objects and delights, which only affect the material senses of the body. Noxious serpents, which are of many kinds, signify the sensual things that depend on the evil affections which constitute the interiors of the mind with those who are insane from the falsities of evil; and harmless serpents signify the sensual things that are dependent on the good affections, which constitute the interiors of the mind with those who are wise from the truths of good.

[3] Sensual things dependent an evil affections, are signified by serpents in these passages:

They lick the dust like a serpent, (Micah 7:17).

Dust shall be the serpent’s bread, (Isaiah 65:25).

He said to the serpent, Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life, (Genesis 3:14).

The sensual is thus described, which, because it communicates with hell, where all are sensual, turns heavenly wisdom into infernal insanity in spiritual things.

Be not glad, Philistia, for out of the serpent’s root shall go forth a basilisk, whose fruit is a flying fiery serpent, (Isaiah 14:29).

They lay asp’s eggs; he that eateth of its eggs dieth, and when one presses it out, a viper is hatched, (Isaiah 59:5).

Because the sons of Israel desired to return into Egypt, they were bitten by serpents, (Numbers 21:4-9).

“To return into Egypt,” signified to become sensual from being spiritual; on which account it is said:

The hirelings of Egypt have turned themselves away, the voice thereof shall go like a serpent, (Jeremiah 46:21-22).

[4] Because Dan was the farthest of the tribes, and thence signified the ultimate of the church, which is the sensual subject to the interiors, it is therefore said thus of him:

Dan is a serpent upon the way biting the horse’s heels, and the rider shall fall backwards, (Genesis 49:17).

By “the horse’s heels” the ultimates of the understanding, which are sensual, are signified: by “biting” is signified to adhere to them: by “the rider” is signified the lack of knowledge from them, by which truths are perverted; for which reason it is said, “His rider shall fall backwards.” Since sensual men are crafty and cunning like foxes, the Lord therefore says:

Be ye prudent as serpents, (Matthew 10:16).

For the sensual man speaks and reasons from appearances and fallacies; and if he is skilled in the gift of arguing, he knows how to confirm every falsity skilfully, and also the heresy concerning faith alone, and still is so dull in the power of seeing truth that it is scarcely possible to be duller.

Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner life along with reinforcing any key LP principles that have been highlighted in the exchanges.

Uses and the senses as things of the will and understanding

Arcana Coelestia 7038. That “to serve the Lord” denotes to perform uses, is because true worship consists in the performance of uses, thus in the exercises of charity. He who believes that serving the Lord consists solely in frequenting a place of worship, in hearing preaching there, and in praying, and that this is sufficient, is much mistaken. The very worship of the Lord consists in performing uses; and during man’s life in the world uses consist in everyone’s discharging aright his duty in his station, thus from the heart being of service to his country, to societies, and to the neighbor, in dealing sincerely with his fellow, and in performing kind offices with prudence in accordance with each person’s character. These uses are chiefly the works of charity, and are those whereby the Lord is chiefly worshiped. Frequenting a place of worship, hearing sermons, and saying prayers, are also necessary; but without the above uses they avail nothing, because they are not of the life, but teach what the life must be. The angels in heaven have all happiness from uses, and according to uses, so that to them uses are heaven. [2] That happiness is from Divine order according to uses, can be seen from the things in man which correspond to those which are in the Grand Man; as those from the external senses, namely, from sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, which as has been shown at the end of many chapters, are correspondent. These senses therefore have delights exactly in accordance with the uses which they perform; the most delightful is the sense of conjugial love, on account of its greatest use, because from this comes the propagation of the human race, and from the human race, heaven; the delight of taste follows next, because it serves for the nourishment and thereby for the health of the body, in accordance with which is the sound action of the mind; the delight of smell is less, because it merely serves for recreation: and thus also for health; the delight of hearing and that of sight are in the last place, because they merely take up those things which will be of service to uses, and wait upon the intellectual part, and not so much the will part. [3] From these and other like facts it becomes plain that it is uses according to which happiness is given in heaven by the Lord; and that it is uses through which the Lord is mainly worshiped. From this it is that John lay on the Lord’s breast at table, and that the Lord loved him more than the rest; but this was not for his own sake, but because he represented the exercises of charity, that is, uses. (That John represented these, see the preface to Genesis 18 and Genesis 22, 760, 3934.)

AC 10199. For all things which are perceived by man through the organs of sense signify spiritual things, which bear relation to the good of love and to the truths of faith, as do smell, taste, sight, hearing, and touch; hence “smell” signifies the perceptivity of interior truth from the good of love; “taste” signifies the perception and affection of knowing and of being wise; “sight,” the understanding of the truths of faith; “hearing,” perceptivity from the good of faith, and from obedience; and “touch” in general, communication, transfer, and reception. [2] The reason of this is that all external sensations derive their origin from internal sensations which are of the understanding and will, thus in man from the truths of faith and from the good of love, for these constitute the understanding and the will of man. But the internal sensations, which are proper to the understanding and will with man, have not that sense which the external sensations have, but are turned into such when they flow in; for all things made sensible to man by the external organs of sense, flow in from internal things, because all influx is from internal things into external, but not the reverse. For there is no such thing as physical influx, that is, influx from the natural world into the spiritual, but only from the spiritual world into the natural. The interiors of man which belong to his understanding and will are in the spiritual world, and his externals which belong to the senses of the body are in the natural world. From this also it can be seen what correspondence is, and what is its nature.

AC 9730.  By the external sensuous is not meant the sense of the body itself, as its sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, but that which is most nearly from these; for he is called a sensuous man who thinks and desires according to these senses of the body and their appetites, and considers no further. He who considers further, and examines what the sensuous desires, and what he himself thinks from the sensuous, is said to be raised above the sensuous, or to be withdrawn from it, and to think interiorly. This is the case with those at the present day who are in the good of charity and of faith. When this is done, the sensuous is quiescent, and is deprived of its active life which it has from the world and its objects. There are with man two determinations of the things of the understanding and of the will; one determination is outward toward the world, and the other is inward toward heaven. With natural and sensuous men, the determination of the things of the understanding and of the will, thus of the thoughts and affections, is toward the world; but with spiritual and celestial men the determination of these things is toward heaven, and also alternately toward the world. The hinge of the determinations turns inward when the man is being regenerated, and so far as it can then be turned inward, so far the man can be raised by the Lord toward heaven to Himself, and consequently be in the same proportion imbued with wisdom, faith, and love. For the man then lives in the internal man, consequently in his spirit, and the external man is subordinate thereto. But if a man does not suffer himself to be regenerated, then all his interiors remain determined toward the world, and then his life is in the external man, and the internal man is subordinate thereto. This is the case when the external man supplies reasonings which favor evil lusts. These men are called natural, and they who abide in things most external are called sensuous; from which it can be seen what is meant by “the sensuous.”

Video: You Are The Lungs by Off The Left Eye (link)

Angels need the exteriors in order to see their interiors

Arcana Coelestia 10194. All the representatives in the other life are outward things shaped according to the states of the interior ones; for in this way the spiritual world presents itself to view there.

Heaven and Hell 156. Together with the state of the angels’ interiors which pertain to their love and wisdom, the states of various things outside them appearing before their eyes are changed. For the things outside them take on an appearance in accordance with the things within them.

Heaven and Hell 172&173. But although the things seen in the heavens are for the most part like those on the earth, yet in essence they are unlike. For the things in the heavens come into existence from the Sun of heaven, and those on earth from the sun of the world. … The things which come into existence in the heavens do not do so in the same manner as do the things on earth. In the heavens, all things come into existence from the Lord in accordance with their correspondences with the interiors of the angels. For angels have both interiors and exteriors. All things in their interiors have relation to love and faith, thus to the will and the understanding, for the will and the understanding are their receptacles, while their exteriors correspond to their interiors. This can be illustrated by what has been said above about the heat and light of heaven-that angels have heat in accordance with the quality of their love, and light in accordance with the quality of their wisdom. The same is true of all other things that present themselves before the senses of the angels.

The magic of the Egyptians

AC 7039. Behold I will slay thy son, thy firstborn. That this signifies the extinction of faith without charity, and the consequent devastation of truth with them, is evident from the signification of “slaying,” as being extinction; and from the signification of “son, the firstborn,” namely, of Pharaoh and the Egyptians, as being faith without charity (see n. 3325). For by Pharaoh and the Egyptians are represented the memory-knowledges which are of the church (n. 4749, 4964, 4966, 6004), thus which are of faith, for these are of the church. But because they turned these memory-knowledges into magic (n. 6692), and from this their works were evil, and devoid of any charity, therefore by their “firstborn” are signified such things as are of the memory-knowledge of faith, thus faith without charity. That these are signified by the “firstborn of Egypt,” is evident from the signification of the “firstborn of Israel,” as being the faith of charity (of which above n. 7035).

Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner life along with reinforcing any key LP principles that have been highlighted in the exchanges.

Things in the natural are the effects not the causes

Arcana Coelestia 5711​. For whatever in universal nature has not correspondence with the spiritual world cannot exist, having no cause from which to exist, consequently from which to subsist. The things that are in nature are nothing but effects; their causes are in the spiritual world, and the causes of these causes, which are ends, are in the interior heaven. Nor can the effect subsist unless the cause is constantly in it, because the effect ceases when the cause ceases. Regarded in itself the effect is nothing else than the cause, but so clothed outwardly as to enable the cause to act as a cause in a lower sphere. Similar to the relation of the effect to the cause is that between the cause and the end; unless a cause also exists from its cause, which is an end, it is not a cause; for a cause without an end is a cause in no order, and where there is no order nothing is effected. From this it is now plain that regarded in itself an effect is a cause, and that regarded in itself a cause is an end, and that an end of good is in heaven and proceeds from the Lord; consequently that an effect is not an effect unless a cause is in it, and constantly in it; and that a cause is not a cause unless an end is in it, and constantly in it; and that an end is not an end of good unless the Divine which proceeds from the Lord is in it. Hence it is also plain that as each and all things in the world have come forth from the Divine, they continue to come forth from the Divine.​

AC2991.That natural things represent spiritual things, and that they correspond, may also be known from the fact that what is natural cannot possibly come forth except from a cause prior to itself. Its cause is from what is spiritual; and there is nothing natural which does not thence derive its cause. Natural forms are effects; nor can they appear as causes, still less as causes of causes, or beginnings; but they receive their forms according to the use in the place where they are; and yet the forms of the effects represent the things which are of the causes; and indeed these latter things represent those which are of the beginnings. Thus all natural things represent those which are of the spiritual things to which they correspond; and in fact the spiritual things also represent those which are of the celestial things from which they are.​

And Zipporah took a stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and made it touch his feet

AC 7045. And cut off the foreskin of her son. That this signifies the removal of filthy loves, and thereby the laying bare of the internal, is evident from the signification of “cutting off,” as being to remove; from the signification of “the foreskin,” as being earthly and bodily love, which defiles spiritual and celestial love (see n. 3412, 4462); and from the signification of “son,” as being the truth of the representative church. That a “son” denotes truth may be seen above (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373); and that it denotes the truth of that church, is because Zipporah represents that church, and calls him her “son,” and by him shows the quality of that nation, and hence the quality of its worship. That by the “foreskin” are signified filthy loves, is because the loins with the genitals correspond to conjugial love (n. 5050-5062); and because they correspond to conjugial love, they correspond to all celestial and spiritual love (n. 686, 4277, 4280, 5054); and therefore the foreskin corresponds to the most external loves, which are called bodily and earthly. If these loves are devoid of internal loves, which are called spiritual and celestial, they are filthy, as was the case with that nation, which was in externals without an internal. It is said “without an internal,” and by this is meant no acknowledgment of truth, and no affection of good, thus no faith, and no charity, for these are of the internal man, and from them proceed the activities of charity, which are external goods. This internal, which is devoid of faith and charity, and yet is full of evils and falsities, is called by the Lord “empty” (Matthew 12:43-45); hence it is said, “an external without an internal.” Now as by the “foreskin” are signified loves the most external, therefore when they are removed, as is signified by Zipporah’s cutting off the foreskin, the quality of these loves appears, thus the laying bare of the internal.

AC 7032 [2] As regards the obstinacy of those who are in falsities and the derivative evils, and in evils and the derivative falsities, be it known that the obstinacy is such as cannot be described; for they never desist except through grievous punishments and the consequent fears; exhortations and threats are of no avail whatever, because the delight of their life is to do evil. They contracted this delight during their life in the world, especially from the fact that they loved themselves only and not the neighbor, thus being in no Christian charity. As people of this kind do not suffer themselves to be led by the Lord, they act from their own proper will, which is evil by heredity, and also by actual life; and they who act from their own will, do evil from love; for that which is of the will is of the love; and from this they have the delight of doing evil, and so far as they are in this delight, so far they are in obstinacy. [3] That this is so does not appear in the world, because in the world they are withheld by the love of self and the love of the world, for they fear the loss of reputation, and of the consequent gain and honor, if they were to do evil openly. Moreover, the laws and the fear of the loss of life restrain them; but if these did not stand in the way, they would rush to destroy all who do not favor them, and would plunder them of all their property, and would mercilessly kill anyone. Such is man interiorly, that is, such is man as to his spirit, however much in this world he may appear different. This can be very plainly seen from them in the other life, for then the externals are taken away from those who have been such in the world, and they are left to their will, thus to their loves; and when they are left to these, they perceive nothing more delightful than to do evil, which also they do with such obstinacy that, as before said, they never desist except through punishments, and afterward by repeated sinkings down into hell. From all this it can be seen what a man is who is in no charity toward the neighbor; and also that everyone’s life awaits him; not the civil life which was external and apparent in the world, but the spiritual life which was internal and did not appear in the world.

Third Round posts are short audio clips taken from Round 3 comments offered in the online Logopraxis Life Group meetings. The aim is to keep the focus on understanding the Text in terms of its application to the inner life along with reinforcing any key LP principles that have been highlighted in the exchanges.